For the 31st consecutive year, the Akron Urban League (AUL) offers scholarships to high school seniors, residing and attending school in Summit County, sponsored by community groups, corporations, and higher education institutions through the Building Scholars Program. The scholarship program is aligned with the AUL mission to improve the lives of the citizens of Summit County, particularly African Americans.

If you don't want to eat those peas, Rep. Marcia Fudge wants to make it easier for a hungry person to eat them. On Tuesday, the Warrensville Heights Democrat introduced legislation to address liability worries that keep food manufacturers, retailers and restaurants from donating surplus food to the needy.

In an area where trash and broken glass litter the sidewalks and graffiti-covered buildings are boarded up, it is hard to imagine a big, beautiful garden full of fresh produce. However, in inner city Cleveland, through the collaboration of the Ohio USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ohio State University Extension, a push from Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, partnerships between the City of Cleveland and multiple organizations, this has been made possible.

This week, parents, elected officials, students, and communities are engaging in National Teacher Appreciation Week. For one week every year, teachers across the country are acknowledged for their often selfless contributions and thankless efforts.

Last week, the Obama Administration announced that the President's Fiscal Year 2017 Budget will invest $12 billion over ten years to reduce child hunger. Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) and Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) released statements in support.

In a speech on the U.S. House of Representatives floor on Thursday, Rep. Marcia Fudge apologized to the riot-torn city of Baltimore and the family of Freddie Gray, who died after he was injured by police, for federal policies that don't help the poor.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge on Tuesday called on Republicans who control the U.S. Senate to approve Loretta Lynch's nomination to be U.S. Attorney General, calling Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell "petty and mean spirited" for using the nomination as a "pawn" in ongoing disputes with Obama.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint session of Congress next Tuesday, the attendees - and those who skip it - may make as much news as Netanyahu. Cleveland-area U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, for one, is not going. Neither is Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, who represents the western part of Cleveland.

The Warrensville Heights Democrat was elected as the ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, which is expected to revise 2002 legislation that created controversy over the role of standardized tests in measuring progress by school districts.

Members of Congress are reviving the debate over abortion to mark Thursday's 42nd anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, which overturned laws that criminalized the procedure.

Ohio's 16 U.S. House of Representatives members on Monday sent a joint letter that asks the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explain the policies that allowed a nurse who took care of an Ebola patient in Texas to visit Ohio over the Columbus Day weekend.

Norwood, a representative from the International Institute in Akron and a representative from U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge's office joined Wallace and the Rev. Peter Wiley, pastor at First Congregational Church Hudson, at the construction site at mid-morning to celebrate the accomplishment. Fudge, D-Warrensville Heights, was instrumental in securing funds.

"My colleagues and I are acting aggressively to ensure that every American can exercise his or her right to participate in the Democratic process unencumbered by unnecessary restrictions that discourage, that discriminate or that disenfranchise in the name of a problem that doesn't exist," Holder told a voting rights brain trust event hosted by Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights, the caucus chair.

In order for America to remain competitive, we must expose underrepresented groups to the exciting opportunities that a STEM education and career affords. This is also important for the economy of Northeast Ohio.

Comedian Stephen Colbert figuratively skewered the Cleveland area and literally skewered Rep. Marcia Fudge with a fencing foil during a segment on Fudge's congressional district on last night's Colbert Report.

"Race is a sore that has never healed in this country," she said, garnering applause from the crowd of about 320 during an Akron Roundtable luncheon. "We have to deal with race in this country – and we just won't do it."

Lawmakers including Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown are facing off over a Federal Communications Commission proposal to repeal a 1975 blackout rule that keeps National Football League games off local broadcast television stations unless game tickets are sold out.

"He really has said as much as probably he should," said Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio). "I know there are a lot of people who want him to be much stronger, but the reality is, we really live in two Americas."

All military services, including the Marines and Navy, have either reviewed or are in the midst of reviewing their grooming policies to ensure they are "fair and respectful while also meeting our military requirements," Hagel said in a letter this week to U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, Democrat of Warrensville Heights.

Fudge, who represents the 11th Congressional District that includes parts of Summit County and Akron, will speak at the Akron Roundtable luncheon Thursday, Aug. 21. The event is sponsored by State & Federal Communications.

Brown's killing "may be part of a continuing pattern of the use of deadly force by police against unarmed African-Americans," wrote Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), the head of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Reps. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.).

The Breaking Addiction Act of 2014 – introduced by two Ohio Democrats in the U.S. House, Reps. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights and Tim Ryan of Niles – would launch a pilot program that would enable states to get federal reimbursement for Medicaid services that treat substance abuse at a community treatment center of more than 16 beds.

As a member of the House Committee on Agriculture and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition, I have been consistently engaged in efforts to promote healthier eating habits and better nutrition for Americans. Since this is National Farmers Market Week, it is a good time to highlight the growth in urban agriculture that is occurring in communities across the country. This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a 76 percent increase in the number of farmers markets in the United States, up from 4,685 in 2008 to 8,286 in 2014. Ohio is a leader, ranking fourth in the number of farmers markets with 311, behind California (764), New York (638) and Michigan (339).

Akron City Council voted unanimously Monday in favor of a resolution supporting the U.S. House of Representatives "Breaking Addiction Act," which would make Medicaid payments available for substance abuse treatment programs. U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge authored the breaking addiction act along with co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, has introduced an overdue piece of legislation aimed at the heroin scourge. Her bill will save both lives and money. Now she just needs to round up bipartisan support and get it passed.

As the GOP-controlled House of Representatives prepares to sue President Barack Obama for delaying the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate, Rep. Marcia Fudge took to the House floor on Monday to denounce the action as "a political stunt" that will "waste millions of tax dollars."

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio received a standing ovation as she rallied people to get to the polls. "Vote like your life depended on it; vote as if the lives of your children depended on it," Fudge said.

A nationwide opiate epidemic has left area treatment centers with long patient waiting lists. ideastream's David C. Barnett reports that pair of local Congressional representatives are sponsoring a bill aimed at easing the backlog.

A week after the Supreme Court ruled that it's okay for employers to single out essential women's health care for exclusion from insurance coverage, new reports by the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights provided a disheartening reminder of the extent to which politicians in state legislatures across the U.S. have already been singling out women's health care for differential treatment under the law. Introduced last November by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Tammy Baldwin, and Representatives Judy Chu, Lois Frankel and Marcia Fudge, this historic legislation [Women's Health Protection Act] would enforce and protect a woman's right and access to safe, legal abortion care no matter where she happens to live.

House Speaker John Boehner Thursday released a draft resolution of his threatened lawsuit against President Barack Obama, alleging that Obama exceeded his executive authority in delaying a key provision of the Affordable Care Act."This resolution is an insult to our political process and is merely a distraction from the real problems occurring within the Republican Party," said Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"Cleveland has much to offer delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention," said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (OH-11). "I welcome the economic benefit and national attention the convention will bring to the City of Cleveland and the region. It would also provide an opportunity for the Republican delegates and national media to learn more about the hopes, strengths and challenges facing our residents. "

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge welcomed attendees to Warrensville Heights, saying it's crucial that the more than 800,000 small businesses in Ohio be conversant on sites such as Facebook, because studies show they benefit more than larger national competitors from social media marketing. "Facebook has helped me connect with and serve my constituents in ways not possible before," Fudge said.

19 Action News Investigative Reporter Scott Taylor has discovered the percentage of minority contractors, only 6 percent, who worked on phase one of the multimillion dollar Inner Belt Bridge in Cleveland is flat out embarrassing. Norm Edwards with the American Center for Economic Equality says, "The large disparity is because of the good old boys network. The racism that is prevalent on the ODOT Project." Norm Edwards and the American Center For Economic Equality are working with Ohio Governor John Kasich and U.S. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge to raise federal minority numbers.

Congressional leaders honored the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King and President Lyndon Johnson and commemorated the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act in a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol rotunda Tuesday. Rep Fudge spoke at the ceremony as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Fifty years after their instrumental role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King were posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, on Tuesday. Rep. Fudge, a speaker for the ceremony, received applause from both political parties for her remarks on amending voting rights.

ATLANTA – The King Center has announced that on June 24, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King will posthumously receive a Congressional Gold Medal, during a special ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Yesterday marked Juneteenth, the day that should be a national holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Although slavery is the most terrible thing, sadly, not everyone celebrates Juneteenth. Many, including many African Americans, view the holiday solely as a time to host seemingly exclusive African-American-only-themed festivals and events.

The head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is pushing House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to take up legislation restoring the voting rights protections shot down by the Supreme Court last year.Democratic leaders and others urging consideration of the bipartisan bill to update the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) have previously focused their pressure campaign on House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Following a Democratic Caucus meeting in the Capitol, Rep. Marcia Fudge gave her opinion on how the U.S. should move forward with Iraq. The head of the Congressional Black Caucus, had some advice for the president as he weighs his options. "Stop listening to the people who sent us there with no plan," Fudge said Wednesday. "I would hate to see another generation of young people have to fight in Iraq in a civil war.

Yesterday, CBC Chair Marcia Fudge challenged House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte to move the Voting Rights Act bill forward. Just as with immigration reform, Goodlatte appears to be set to do nothing on either issue – a familiar pattern in the GOP controlled House during the Obama presidency.

Over the weekend, Congresswoman Fudge and others attended Flag Day celebrations at Cleveland's Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame to honor the 239th Anniversary of the U.S. Army. 4 servicemen were named "Soldier of the Year" and 29 immigrants were granted citizenship.

It takes two bus transfers and a half-mile walk for John to buy groceries from the nearest supermarket. Since this trek is both inconvenient and time consuming, he chooses to grab dinner at the fast food restaurant down the street. The next day, John decides to pick up a hot dog and slice of pizza from the gas station on the next block. He promises himself a trip to the grocery store over the weekend, but doesn't go because it is too much of a hassle. Instead, he goes to the convenience store on the corner and stocks up on frozen dinners. John has not had any fresh fruit or vegetables all week.

The U.S. District Court of Southern Ohio's decision now makes permanent a 2012 ruling requiring the state to restore early, in-person voting on the three days before Election Day. Several Ohio democrats praised the resolution including Rep. Fudge who called it a victory for Ohio voters.

Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge told April Ryan on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" that the omission of diversity visas was "one of the worst things that I could imagine." One staffer told me that their member supports the Senate bill as a great starting point but doesn't feel as though it addresses the particular needs of our community.

In May, more than 200 Congress members wrote a letter to McCarthy and the Secretary of the Army that said the proposed rule would contradict Supreme Court precedents that limit the Clean Water Act's scope, and say it should not expand its scope beyond "navigable" waters .Fudge's letter said,"As written, I believe this proposed rule will have an unintended negative impact on farmers, construction workers, miners, manufacturers and private landowners".

Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights said she, like veterans and their families, still has many unanswered questions about scheduling delays, including why local VA facilities were flagged for further review. "I welcome the intensive, ongoing scrutiny by the VA office of Inspector General (OIG) and urge transparency and full disclosure once the review is complete," said Fudge. "The public is entitled to know how the Cleveland VA - the busiest in the State of Ohio - measures up."

"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. ... You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)

A Re-Entry Fair offering guidance and support to women re-establishing themselves after incarceration will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 20, at the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College. A lunch will be provided to participants through a donation from U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge.

On May 29th, Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, introduced the Fit for Life Act of 2014, proposed legislation to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. "This country must break the cycle of childhood obesity," said Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, "Unless we reverse course, this epidemic will continue to put more of our children and the future of our nation at risk. I encourage my colleagues to stand with me in this fight and cosponsor the Fit for Life Act."

Sen. Sherrod Brown joins Reps. Tim Bishop and Marcia Fudge in Upper Senate Park to rally Congress to pass a transportation bill that's more than just highways. Along with the Rev. Al Sharpton, ATU head Larry Hanley and others, the coalition will remind lawmakers "that the pending highway bill is about more than highways – it's about mass transit and jobs."

Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women's Roundtable, considers U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, who chairs the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus, one of the strongest leaders in Congress on fair pay issues.

"There is a special place in hell for somebody like him. Those who would prey on our children, they say that they are warlords and that they are fighting for what is right. They have become wars on children and that is not right" said Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Texas, referring to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge and several other members of Congress met with Nigerian officials today at the nation's embassy to discuss ways the international community can work together to rescue nearly 300 girls who were kidnapped from a Nigerian school in April by the Boko Haram terrorist organization.

"If we don't work to close the racial wealth gap, it will ultimately lead to the American economic gap causing our economy to fall behind China," said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. "If the fastest growing communities in our country are not afforded the same economic and educational opportunities to participate in our economy, how can we continue to compete in the world?"

It's not a secret that today's racial and ethnic minorities are projected to become a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2043. We see this shift playing out in real time with a majority of babies now being born into households of color and with youths of color projected to become a majority of the 18 and under population within five years.

"If we don't work to close the racial wealth gap it will ultimately lead to the American economic gap causing our economy to fall behind China,"," said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. "If the fastest growing communities in our country are not afforded the same economic and educational opportunities to participate in our economy, how can we continue to compete in the world?"

"[We] didn't get a whole lot accomplished," Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), head of the CBC, said afterward, with Ryan at her side. "We do agree on a number of things. One is that we're both concerned about the poverty in this country. We just disagree about how we address the problem.

Fudge invited Ryan to meet with her group last month after its members were upset by a radio interview in which the former GOP vice-presidential nominee decried "a tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday told Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge the Defense Department will review a controversial clampdown on African American women's hairstyles that the U.S. Army imposed in March.

In their letter to HUD, Brown, Portman and Fudge said, "While we agree that it is beneficial to have a single, coordinated intake location to assess individuals' needs and ensure that they receive appropriate accommodations, we are concerned that Cuyahoga County's interpretation of HUD's interim rule is overly restrictive and may cause unintended harm to families who seek temporary shelter with local nonprofits before receiving a coordinated assessment.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge on Monday called a GOP budget plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan a "scheme to rob the poor and give to the rich," during a television interview with Rev. Al Sharpton.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge wants the Defense Department to reconsider new restrictions the U.S. Army has imposed on hairstyles commonly worn by African-American women, arguing that some of thenewly issued grooming regulations are racially discriminatory.

Central State University selected U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland, as the commencement speaker for the May 10 ceremony. The commencement will be at 10 a.m. at the Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. Fifth Street, Dayton.

Gov. John Kasich, with support from U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, has asked the federal Transportation Department to consider adjusting minority participation goals for the Inner Belt bridge replacement project to better reflect Cleveland's population.

Cleveland Congresswoman Marcia Fudge is asking the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to reject a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dump material dredged from Cleveland's harbor and the Cuyahoga River into an open Lake Erie.

Add Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge to the list of African-American politicians who were outraged by comments that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan made Wednesday on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio show.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge on Thursday sought removal of California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa from his Government Oversight chairmanship for cutting off the microphone of the committee's top Democrat at a hearing.

House Republicans had blocked an attempt by Democrats to chastise Issa for his conduct at the committee hearing. Ohio Democrat Marcia Fudge offered a resolution condemning Issa for his "offensive and disrespectful manner."

I also joined Congresswoman Marcia Fudge–a champion of education and an extraordinary advocate for underserved Americans–to announce the designation of Central State University, a historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio, as a land-grant institution.

Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D) warned in November that these measures and another to voter identification would suppress the voting rights of African Americans and asked Attorney General Eric Holder to review the laws.

"I've been impressed, obviously, with what Israel has done over the years, as it related to technology, agriculture, research in general," Fudge, a lifelong Democrat, told The Times of Israel Wednesday evening, right after she and several other caucus members concluded a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. "I find the country fascinating and certainly want to learn more about it."

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge met with Israeli President Shimon Peres Tuesday as part of a Congressional Black Caucus trip to Israel, according to Israeli media and staffers for Fudge.

In the course of a meeting that he had at his official residence on Tuesday with a Congressional Black Caucus delegation headed by Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio-11), President Shimon Peres was lavish in his praise for both President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"Your congressional delegation rocks," she said of Reps. Marcia Fudge and Marcy Kaptur and Sen. Sherrod Brown. She encouraged the audience to continue to "populate the halls of power . . . with people who care about these issues."

Among those pushing to change these Catch-22 rules are Brown, the senator from Ohio, and Reps. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights and Jim Renacci of Wadsworth. Fudge is a Democrat, Renacci a Republican.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge will travel on Air Force One today with President Barack Obama to East Lansing, Michigan, where Obama will sign the farm bill that Congress recently approved.

A National Day of Prayer to End Poverty and Income Inequality service has been scheduled for 1 p.m. today at First Apostolic Faith Church, 790 Easter Ave., Akron. The local event is part of a national push by the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus to call communities together to pray simultaneously and focus attention on the issues of income inequality and poverty.

A bipartisan group of Northeast Ohio Congress members are asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make a swift decision on how to keep voracious Asian Carp from spreading into the Great Lakes now that they've released an exhaustive study on the topic.

Communities across the country are grappling with dramatic increases in water and sewer rates. Right here in Cuyahoga County and Cleveland, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District approved a rate increase plan in 2011 that will raise sewer rates by 75 percent over a five-year period.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge on Monday said she's disappointed by United Airlines' decision to reduce regional fight service out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and eliminate roughly 470 jobs.

In her recent talk at an Akron Press Club/ Bliss Institute program, Rep.Marcia Fudge covered the entire spectrum of the unfinished business of combating racism in America. A Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, she represents Ohio's new 11th District stretching south from Euclid to Fairlawn – graphic evidence of the liveried Republican map-drawers' free-wheeling ability to redefine the upside of hometown politics.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge, who was among the legislators who negotiated a compromise between versions of the bill that were previously adopted by the House and U.S. Senate, called it a "fair, bipartisan bill that meets the needs of the American people while reducing federal spending by $23 billion."

The Congressional Black Caucus led by Rep. Marcia Fudge is fighting an Agriculture Department proposal that would let poultry processing plants speed up their production lines, fearing the change might risk the health of plant workers and the food they produce.

Politicians and bureaucrats, judges and lawyers, Democrats and Republicans, friends and family, young and old -- more than a thousand, in all -- turned out Saturday to join in a sendoff befitting a statesman, Arnold Pinkney.

Fudge, who was honored with the American Voice Award, gathered with actress Kathleen Turner, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and others at the Arena Stage for an awards ceremony and performance.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus led by Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge? say that Republicans are abusing a U.S. Senate tradition to obstruct confirmation of President Barack Obama's African-American judicial nominees.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge -- who formed the Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus and now heads the Congressional Black Caucus -- will get an award on Thursday night from a Washington, D.C. theater to honor her "extraordinary support of and advocacy for American arts and arts education."

"I'm certainly hopeful that the December number will be good for African-Americans," Fudge told BET.com on the eve before the numbers were released. "In every single report, African-Americans have lagged behind everybody else. So I'm just hopeful that we don't fall any further behind than we already are. But I know that we need to do more, no matter what the numbers show, to target communities of color and high poverty to make sure we can get them back to work."

Fudge, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, said Congress should reject cuts to the food stamp program, remove financial obstacles to students' college access, and examine policies that "contribute to the growing income gap between the very wealthy and the rest of us."

"We must take a closer, more critical look at policies that contribute to the growing income gap between the very wealthy and the rest of us," said CBC chairwoman Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio. "We must continue the fight championed by President Johnson that would ensure all Americans can support themselves and their families, and have the opportunity to contribute to our economy and to our society. This is how we build upon the progress that has been made over the past five decades, instead of taking action to reverse it."

Each week, about 1,877 more Ohioans exhaust their state benefits," said Rep. Marcia Fudge, Democrat of Warrensville Heights, in a Facebook post after the Senate advanced the bill. She cited the U.S. Department of Labor as her source.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge will speak at the Akron Press Club luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 23. This event is co-sponsored by the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. There will be the opportunity for questions following the speech.

Fudge is glad her district got $35 million in New Market Tax Credits to draw investment to low-income communities, and that the Treasury Department agreed to let Ohio use $60 million from an anti-foreclosure fund to demolish abandoned buildings after she, Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Russell Township GOP Rep. Dave Joyce introduced legislation that would let states use that money for demolition. She was pleased the Veterans Administration began faster processing of disability compensation claims after the Congressional Black Caucus, which she chairs, pressured the agency.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge is trying to secure language in a pending farm bill that would make Central State University Ohio's second "land grant school" and qualify it to receive millions of extra federal dollars each year.

Today, Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights released a letter she wrote to the Pope in her capacity as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, applauding his efforts to bring attention to the downtrodden and likening his mission to that of the Black Caucus.

Even though it took two hours to get anywhere in the crowded streets of Johannesburg and the rain throughout Nelson Mandela's memorial service at a packed soccer stadium, made it seem "as if all of South Africa was crying tears," Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge said she was glad she made the trip.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge will lead a Congressional Black Caucus delegation to South Africa to attend Tuesday's memorial service for former President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg's soccer stadium.

The Creating Access to Rehabilitation for Every Senior (CARES) Act would allow skilled nursing facilities that meet stringent criteria to automatically qualify to waive the prior hospitalization requirement, thus eliminating the need for a three-day stay and also solving the much talked about "observation stay" loophole. These criteria are based on measures used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in reporting on quality of skilled nursing care services.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, joined with the National Pork Producers Council, the Ohio Pork Council and Walmart to provide Thanksgiving food baskets of ham, turkey and all the trimmings to needy families in the Cleveland area.

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge on Wednesday alleged that proposed voting law changes pending in Ohio's legislature are intended to disenfranchise minorities, students and the elderly, and she asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review them.

Congressional Black Caucus chair Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Warrensville Heights, on Thursday accused Republicans in the U.S. Senate of filibustering a disproportionate number of President Obama's nominees, and applauded its Democratic majority for changing Senate rules to eliminate that option.

In a historic move today, China's highest-ranking education leader, Vice Premier Madam Liu Yandong, announced the award of 400 two-week scholarships over four years to students in districts of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), to study in China. The Chinese government also will provide 1,000 scholarships to Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) for longer-term study in China, ranging from 3 months to 2 years, for undergraduate or postgraduate studies.

U.S. lawmakers meeting today to reconcile House and Senate versions of agricultural policy legislation will find the table crowded with members who have deeply held and widely divergent views on food stamps.

House and Senate farm bill conferees used the first and possibly only public meeting Wednesday to once again articulate their differences on agriculture and nutrition policy, but the tone was conciliatory and congressional farm leaders made plans to continue negotiations next week even though the House is out of session.

Laws that permit people to "stand their ground" and use deadly force if they are attacked should be revised because they promote a "wild west" mentality that allows people to kill with impunity, witnesses including Rep. Marcia Fudge and the mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin told a Senate subcommittee.

Ben Venue Laboratories Inc. officials, who announced earlier this month the company would close, have agreed to work with public officials to find a buyer for the company, as the city officials and politicians hope to save at least some of the 1,100 jobs at risk while protecting the city's tax base.

Ohio's Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent House Speaker John Boehner a letter Wednesday that urges him to stand up to the Tea Party and allow a vote on "legislation acceptable to the Senate and President Obama which will end the shutdown and avert a default."

Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights - who has used her position on the House Agriculture Committee to protect the food stamp program - has been named a Democratic member of a House of Representatives negotiating team that will hammer out a compromise farm bill with members of the U.S. Senate.

Northeastern Ohio lawmakers are faced with tough decisions in coming up with a way to pay for health care reform. Fixing the system is expected to cost more than one trillion dollars. Sara Sciammacco has more.

"We (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.) really focus on political awareness and involvement," she says. "We talk about why it's important to have our own members in positions of authority. And we start out by saying, Anybody can run for school board or city council. Be the head of your PTA, be involved in some policymaking arena that will allow us to get our agenda out.' So we really do try to start people at the most basic level, and then hopefully continue to move them forward."

Across Northeast Ohio, expectations about the inauguration are understandably high. On our program, we'll kick off Inauguration Day by talking with northeast Ohioans who have made the trip to the Capitol, with local leaders and you about the meaning of a day unlike any other in American history.

"This birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. is truly at the intersection of history. Today we herald a great Civil Rights leader on the eve of a major accomplishment of the Movement--the inauguration of President-elect Obama. I am proud to walk through doors opened by Dr. King and so many other freedom fighters. At such a time as this, we are encouraged by his legacy; not to glorify in the past, we must be emboldened by the present in order to build a better tomorrow"--Rep. Marcia Fudge